TweetMinster.co.uk, the service that shows which UK politicians are using Twitter, has just launched a “tweetometer” that will allow people to compare and track what the hot topics on Twitter in real time.

Of course you could put any terms in to the system (predictably, I tried “apple” versus “microsoft” – sorry about that) but the service is no doubt hoping users will try “Gordon Brown” and “David Cameron”.

It’s a nice little Flash application, and though you can get similar statistics using other services it does at least lighten up politics a little.

Asus, manufacturer of a number of desktop, notebook and netbook PCs, is offering Brits the chance to blog about one of its products in a new competition.

In association with Mobile Computer, Asus will pick six bloggers who will each author a month-long blog about a particular machine. At the end of that time, the person whose blog has received the most visitors will win the machine they’ve been blogging about. [Read more…]

Perhaps vilifying the British government’s planned recruitment of a director of digital engagement, a recent study by the Hansard Society suggests that MPs are only using the Internet to inform their constituents rather than engaging with them.

The research suggests that, while 92% of MPs use email and 83% have a personal web site, just under a quarter use any form of social networking tools, and just one in ten blog. Many of these blogging MPs don’t enable reader comments. [Read more…]

The British government’s plan to appoint a director of digital engagement, with responsibility for overseeing a move to engage more with citizens through social media and other digital technology, has been ridiculed by the main opposition party.

The central government job has been created “in recognition of the huge increase in the use of the internet, digital communities and social media” and “will work across Government departments to encourage, support and challenge them in moving from communicating to citizens on the web to conversing and collaborating with them through digital technology.”

The circa £120,000 ($174,000) per year salary for this three-year contract is probably the most questionable aspect of the role, and warrants some accusation by the Tories of it being a “grotesque amount of public money”. However, to brand it a “pointless job” and to devalue it by suggesting it’s simply about “ministers… faffing around on Facebook and Twitter” misses the point. [Read more…]

When I first read this on One Man And His Blog I just had to blog it, even though I couldn’t really claim it to be news. However, that was before I read the ensuing comments left on the post. It may still not be “news” but it’s pretty interesting reading.

As far as I’m concerned, putting together a “100 best blogs” post is potentially very easy (there are hundreds of millions of them) and yet extremely difficult — how do you narrow that list down to just 100 even in one genre?

The Sunday Times is the latest one of the established media to have a go at creating a list of jumping off points. The article is definitely aimed at those for whom reading blogs is not a current pastime — feed readers and blog directories are explained in a side panel.